Hout Bay derives its name from the Dutch for Bay of Wood, for which it was apparently known in the early settlement days of the Western Cape as a good source of wood for ship building and repairs. It survived as a fishing and agricultural community for over three hundred years. It is one of the few sheltered natural small boat harbours and it was briefly occupied by the French in 1788. Until the 1950’s, the land in Hout Bay was used primarily for agricultural purposes. The valley is physically separated from the rest of Cape Town by an enclosure of mountains forming main part of the Table Mountain range. Under colonial and apartheid racial segregation policies the Hout Bay urban area was zoned as a white residential suburb (Group Areas Act 1950) with the exception of the area above the harbour which was zoned for occupation by coloureds. Most of this coloured community worked in the harbour.

The subdivision of farms as a result of growing urbanisation of the area displaced a large number of labourers, most of whom were coloured, whose families had resided there for many years. These became the ‘traditional squatters’ who had a long association with the land in Hout Bay (Zille 1990 in Gawith and Sowman 1992). In addition the need for labour in the harbour attracted black migrant workers who were precluded from ownership or secure leases by group areas legislation. Squatting occurred sporadically by pockets of people for more than fifty years. Initially the effects were minimal on the existing white middle class community as squatting occurred along the Disa River banks and in the backyards of corporate accommodation supplied by the fishing industry. However by the late 1990 more than 2000 people lived in five main informal settlements, the largest being Princess Bush and Sea Products near Hout Bay harbour. Other smaller settlements developed at Disa River, Blue Valley and Dawids Kraal. Residents came from the harbour area, from other settlements on the Cape Flats and from rural areas (Gawith and Sowman 1992).

Imizamo Yethu, meaning ‘through collective struggle’, is a site and service scheme situated on 18 hectares of land made available by the former Western Cape Regional Services Council to accommodate Hout Bay’s squatters. In 1988/89, Hout Bay experienced invasions of state and privately owned land similar to Marconi Beam. Collective action by squatters to obtain legal property rights and reaction from existing property owners in Hout Bay forced the authorities to make formal property available for the ‘squatters’. Forestry land at Imizamo Yethu was made available in late 1990 and 429 sites were occupied in March/April 1991 (Gawith and Sowman 1992, Oelofse 1994). These were registered ‘squatters’ and the site was regarded as a transit area while the formal layout was being planned. Included in the agreement for formal property, lodgers were supposed to move together with the household and that any additional sites might be allocated to them once all the registered households had been accommodated. Surveying and demarcation commenced in 1993.

The majority of the community are black Xhosa speakers from the Eastern Cape. There are also a number of coloured people who hail from the traditional squatter communities. There are reputed to be a number of informal settlement dwellers from other parts of Africa such as Angola and Zaire living in the buffer zone of Imizamo Yethu. One hypothesis posited is that these people entered the country illegally having docked in Hout Bay in fishing trawlers.

References

Gawith M and Sowman M 1992. Informal Settlements in Hout Bay: A brief History and Review of Social Demographic Trends, (1989-1991), EEU Report 10/92/92, Department of Environmental and Geographic Science, University of Cape Town.

Oelofse C 1994. The Surrounding Community’s Perceptions of the Development of an Informal Settlement in their Area - A Case Study of Hout Bay, Cape. Msc Thesis, University of Cape Town, Department of Environmental and Geographic Science.

Zille H 1990 Negotiations on the Future of Squatters in Hout Bay, unpublished mimeo.